Letting out a war cry, Gohan swung a fist at the Metallic Baby. Reacting, the Tuffle used his left hand and grabbed the saiyan by the wrist of his flying punch, and pushed it to his opposite side. With the blow deflected, Baby released his hold on his opponent's arm and balled his hand into a fist, backhanding the saiyan.
The hit had caught Gohan off guard, causing him to drift backwards a bit, leaving him open for attack. Taking advantage of the opening, Baby began throwing jabs with his right fist, nailing the Son boy in the face repeatedly.
Keeping that advantage up, Baby sent a few more jabs before raising his left hand up, the fingers rigidly curled to point towards his palm, said palm exposed. With a thrust, he released a shockwave from the hand, sending Gohan flying away, imbedding him into the small mountain he had been standing on only moments ago.
Not letting up, the Tuffle used a burst of speed, appearing before the stunned saiyan with the fingers on both of his hands rigidly curled like before. Quickly, he began throwing his hands one at a time towards his opponent; never making contact with the saiyan's body as he sent focused shockwaves into him. Once he had unleashed the attack he would pull back his arm before throwing it back out, repeating his action.
All the while, Gohan was being forced further and further into the rock, slowly losing his temper. He was not gonna let this Tuffle scum beat him this easily! Quickly gathering his ki, he forced it up his throat, firing the ki blast from his mouth.
Though surprised, Baby disappeared before beam hit him, reappearing a small distance away with both of his hands out before him. An ominous orb of purple ki appeared in his hands soon after.
"Die monkey boy!" Baby shouted as he fired the blast.
Straining himself, Gohan wrenched his left arm out of his rocky encasement, just in time to slam his fist into the ki blast and deflect it; the beam flying right back at the Tuffle much to his astonishment. This time though, the blast made contact with the android's face, exploding on contact as smoke covered his last known location.
However, Gohan wasn't done. With a quick burst of ki, the encasing rock around him disintegrated, allowing him to leap back onto the ground. Raising his hands to his forehead, hands perpendicular to each other, the saiyan charged up his ki and fired his attack. "Masenko Ha!"
The moment the blast tore into the drifting smoke, a much bigger explosion erupted, flames destroying the island instantly.
Due to that, Gohan had to retreat high into the air, staring down at the dying flames. He knew that blast wouldn't be enough to take that damned Tuffle out, but it would give him something to think about.
If that had been under consideration, the saiyan wouldn't know as the person in question suddenly appeared before him, a leg pulled back and ready to be swung.
If it hadn't been for his speed, the kick would've sent him into a world of hurt. At the last second, Gohan managed to block the kick, much to his opponent's surprise. The Son boy took a bit of gratification in that since he was sure the Tuffle hadn't been expecting him to move so quickly.
But that was all that he was able to think about since he and Baby began trading blows with each other, each punch and kick flying at top speed until they were blocked, parried, dodged, or landed on their target.
That stalemate wouldn't continue though as Baby got irritated with being matched. Once again using a burst of speed, he disappeared as Gohan threw a punch, the fist flying through thin air.
Caught a little off guard, the saiyan looked around quickly and found his opponent a small distance away in front of him. Growling, the warrior raced at the robotic man to continue their fight.
However, Baby had other plans. Smirking, he raised one of his hands up calmly, one of the fingers extended. With a quick gathering of energy, he shouted "Finger Bang Barrage!"
Instantly, a continuous rapid fire of small ki balls shot from his finger tip, flying at high speeds to hit Gohan head on. The moment each ki ball hit the saiyan, they exploded, sending a jolt of pain through his body. Soon, Gohan was being nailed on every part of his body as each and every ki ball slammed and exploded on him; his body jerking around from each impact.
And as sudden as the attack began, it came to an end, allowing Gohan to drift backwards a bit before falling head first to the island below.
The Tuffle, on the other hand, wouldn't let him touch the soil again…at least alive anyway. Holding both of his hands over his head, a black orb of ki appeared with electricity dancing all over it; an ominous blue aura radiating from it. "I hope you'll have a good time in Hell," the mechanical Tuffle shouted in glee. "My Revenge Death Ball will make sure your entrance there is much better than your exit from this world!"
It was a knee jerk reaction. Gohan jerked his head to look dead on at his opponent and fired twin ki blasts from his eyes; the thin beams racing at Baby until they hit him on his right shoulder.
While the attack wasn't enough to severely hurt the android, it did send a sharp pain through his system, providing a lapse in his concentration as he lost control of his energies and the death ball dissipated. Hissing in pain, Baby gripped his damaged shoulder.
Using his newly bought time, Gohan twisted his body in midair and flared his aura, flying as fast as he could to the island below the two fighters. Landing in a crouched position, the saiyan turned his head to look back at the android and nearly swore a dozen curse words. Heading right at him, another barrage of ki balls were homing in, ready to send the Son boy into a world of pain all over again.
Immediately, Gohan ran to his left, pumping his arms in stride with his legs. Behind him, he could hear the ki balls crashing into the ground and destroying chucks of the island; not to mention that each ball was landing right behind him so he felt the heat from the erupting flames.
Fortunately, Lady Luck decided to favor the saiyan. As he ran, he came up to a very large boulder and hid behind it, listening as the ki balls rammed themselves into the rocky barrier. At the rate the attack was going, the Son boy's protection wouldn't last much longer. He had to get out of there soon or he'd be a sitting duck for that annoying Tuffle.
It didn't take him long to start eyeing the water that surrounded the piece of land he was on. The longer he thought about it, the more he figured his best chance at survival was within its depths. Taking a deep breath, the saiyan plunged into sea, just as his rock barrier completely shattered, allowing the few remaining ki balls to plunge underneath the watery waves.
Gohan sank further and further into the water, trying to figure out his next move. Consciously lowering his ki, he was pretty sure that Baby couldn't track him, at least for the time being. The saiyan needed to land a devastating blow against the guy if he wanted to stand a chance at winning the fight but everything he had done had been successfully countered.
Twisting his body, he began swimming towards Baby's last known location. Hopefully the guy would still be where he was when he had launched his Finger Bang Barrage.
Time flowed by the Son boy's arms pushed the water around him, his legs kicking out in time with his strokes. Soon he arrived at his intended location and was ecstatic that he could make out Baby's grey form from beneath the sea's surface.
Although he had fretted about the Tuffle moving around as he swam, it had given him the time needed to come up with the ideal attack for this situation.
Baby was slowly losing his patience. That monkey had been hiding himself for far too long and it was irritating the android to no end.
Fortunately, he knew how to deal with his most hated enemy.
"Come out coward!" he shouted out. "I know you're hiding somewhere like the sniveling weakling you are! Come out and face me! Fight me like a man! You're nothing but a disgrace to your lowly race!"
There, that should've pissed the guy off. He just needed to wait a few more seconds and the dirty monkey would come out roaring and try to rip his head off, not that he could.
Nothing happened.
Another growl escaped his lips. That should've worked. Saiyans were notorious for having large egos stemming from their warrior culture. Every single insult was designed to push all the right buttons to make one see red. Either this saiyan was truly a coward or he knew how to bite his tongue. Either way, it just piled on more fury on the Tuffle.
Suddenly, a barrage of ki blasts exploded from the sea beneath him, causing Baby's eyes to widen. That crafty monkey had been spending all that time to put himself in position to attack him the whole time, the android realized. As beams flew all around him, it didn't take much effort to actually dodge the ones that actually came within striking distance.
A smirk came onto the Tuffle's face. As good of a striking point the saiyan had chosen, he hadn't factored in the light distortion properties of water. Though he could see him, it was quite possible he was misjudging his aim terribly; a silver lining in his surprise attack.
Soon the attack came to an end. With Baby unscathed by the miscalculation, he knew he had an opportune moment. Though he wasn't too sure where the exact location of the saiyan was, he'd be sure to make adjustments to his calculations. Holding both his hands above his head, a very large ki ball appeared over them. If he couldn't pinpoint the monkey, he'd just send an attack that would cover a lot of ground and ensure his demise!
It was due to his focus on his attack that caused him to miss the light change around him. A bright yellow light seemed to cover the area, creating an ominous feeling that Baby was oblivious to. All around him, hundreds of ki balls hovered, waiting for their cue to destroy their target.
A second later and every single one of them closed in on the android.
A large explosion occurred as the deadly ki balls impacted Baby, catching him by surprised. A second explosion soon followed as the energy in his own attack destabilized and ruptured, due to the onslaught of the ki balls.
Winds raced all over the planet, battering Trunks, Tien, and Videl as they hovered in midair. Holding their arms in front of their faces for protection, none of the three knew where this awesome wind came from or its cause.
"What's happening?!" Tien shouted, although his words were lost as the roaring storm claimed his words and casted them into oblivion.
After awhile, the winds died down, allowing the three warriors to resume their prior stances. Looking in the direction that the sudden rush of air came from, they could see a boding glow on the horizon.
"What is that?" Videl finally spoke.
"No clue," Tien replied. "But what ever it is, it can't be good."
"Thanks Sherlock. I would've never guessed that."
"Anytime," the bald human said, ignoring the Satan girl's sarcasm.
"Well, we need to keep going," Trunks said. "I don't want to run into what ever caused that and we still need to get a ship."
"Yeah, yeah," Videl muttered. 'No wonder Erasa got tired of this guy. He's only got a one tracked mind,' she thought.
A blooming mushroom cloud covered the area, taking its sweet time in dispersing. Before it, hovering over the water, Gohan watched his latest masterpiece of destruction.
Sometime in the near future, he needed to thank Piccolo for that technique. There were so many uses for it, it was almost mind-boggling.
Now though, he needed to get back on his mission; find a ship and get the hell off of this desolate planet. With the head of that Gete Star thing gone, it should be a whole lot simpler.
However, before he could even start moving, a hand shot out of the water beneath him and grabbed him around his ankle. With a powerful jerk, Gohan was plunged into the sea, completely off his guard. Because of that, he didn't have a good lungful of air.
Who ever, or what ever, had pulled him down had drug him far beneath the surface before releasing its hold and disappearing. That was the least of the Son boy's worries though as he began his struggle to get back to the surface; the burning sensation in his lung from lack of air was really starting to get to him.
Just before he had broken into the fresh air, a sparkle twinkled in the corner of his eye. Whether it was some long lost treasure or some wreckage of a crashed ship, he didn't care, especially as refreshing air filled his lungs.
Gohan didn't stop there though. He swam his way to a nearby island and collapsed on its shore, coughing up water that had gotten into his system. He needed to recover himself before attempting anything else.
Unfortunately, feet landed right next to him, followed by a mighty blow at the back of his head that smashed his face into the ground. Darkness followed soon after.
To Sigfried Wild: Sorry I didn't answer your review last chapter. Was a little busy and completely forgot. As to your review, an interesting position for the saiyans I must agree lol. The life of an anti-hero wouldn't you say?